On September 7, Friends of Medicare hosted a public townhall event in Edmonton, on how we can achieve a national, universal, public townhall for all. 

We were joined by panelists Elizabeth Kwan, Senior Researcher for the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Pauline Worsfold, Chair of the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC), and Judy Lederer, President of the Edmonton Area Council of the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (CURC) and co-chair of the Alberta Pharmacare Working Group. We heard from our panelists and participants about how critical this political moment is in the fight for a universal, public drug program — and how important it is that we don't miss our chance to act on it.

Judy Lederer also sits on the board of Friends of Medicare, and has shared her presentation with us here:

Winnipeg (Treaty No. 1 Territory), July 10, 2023 - As Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers meet, Health Coalitions across Canada are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to  demand an end to the privatization of public health care by premiers. 

Alberta Seniors’ Week is the first full week of June every year, and is a chance for Albertans to show appreciation for Alberta’s seniors and all that they contribute to Alberta. 

EDMONTON — This Senior’s Week, Public Interest Alberta and Friends of Medicare continue to call for the return of an independent Seniors’ Advocate, for Alberta to get on board with universal pharmacare, and for a comprehensive system of service delivery that ensures the well-being of seniors by ensuring their mental, physical, social and financial needs are met.

The Trudeau government is set to release their next federal budget on Tuesday, March 28 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

OTTAWA — The Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) signed between the Liberals and NDP last year put the health of people’s teeth, the cost of medication, better long-term care, and the future of our health care system at the centre of federal policy discussion and budgeting.

OTTAWA — Tomorrow, Canada’s Premiers will be in Ottawa to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau to discuss health care funding.

For months, Friends of Medicare, other health coalitions, and health care advocates across the country have been calling for an increase to the Canadian Health Transfer, and have held that any new agreement to fund public health care must be used in the public interest and not be allowed to be used by Premiers to privatize health care in their provinces.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Trudeau announced today he will be meeting with premiers of provinces and territories in Ottawa on February 7, 2023 to talk about the health care crisis. The planned First Ministers meeting is the culmination of a months-long campaign by the premiers to convince the federal government to send billions of dollars more in funding to provinces through the Canada Health Transfer.

OTTAWA – As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet gather in Hamilton for a three-day retreat, a broad coalition of unions and progressive groups says that implementing a comprehensive pharmacare program must be a top priority for the Liberal government. The cost-of-living crisis has significantly increased cost-related obstacles to Canadians’ access to prescription drugs, while high drug prices are draining billions of dollars from hospitals’ budgets.

This week marks a full year since I began my role as the Executive Director of Friends of Medicare. The year has truly flown by! I am honoured to be doing this work alongside all of you.

I want to take a moment to reflect on the year that’s been, and where we are headed in 2023. Below are some of the highlights from key areas we’ve been focused on at Friends of Medicare.

This morning, the Government of Alberta reversed course on previously announced changes to the Insulin Pump Therapy Program following backlash from Albertans.

In May, the lives of 4,000 Albertans with diabetes and their families were thrown into chaos and uncertainty when the government announced sudden changes to the Insulin Pump Therapy Program. Albertans responded quickly, sending more than twenty thousand letters to their representatives, speaking out against these changes and the destructive impact they would have on their households and communities. Shortly after, the government announced a pause to those changes, and today reversed course completely.

Yesterday, the provincial government announced changes to its insulin pump benefits program, impacting up to 4,000 Albertans with diabetes. Instead, people will have to seek coverage via private workplace insurance plans, or government benefit plans, potentially leaving many Albertans subject to costly co-pays and premiums.

Alberta’s complex patchwork of private and public drug and supplementary health benefit plans has left far too many of us struggling to pay for the medications and treatments we need. An estimated 420 working-aged Canadians with diabetes die each year because they don't have adequate access to their medications.